Perceptual Reasoning & Processing Speed Deficits?

I was reviewing my dd's assessment done by a counselor for the school last summer. I was wondering if anyone here knows how to describe perceptual reasoning and processing speed deficits in lay terms? How does this effect one's ability to learn? In practical terms, how can this effect day-to-day functioning? Any advice is appreciated.

I am asking since I have a limited understanding of what these two terms mean and no written summary other than the counselor's opinion that no accommodations would be necessary by the school at that time.

Dd is now at another school and I have requested additional psycho-educational testing. I would like to fully understand these results before the next testing.

Additionally, she said her IQ is within average range. Her verbal fluency is excellent. Her reading skills are excellent also. So, those are her strengths if that helps to understand the deficits better. I thought I'd mention it.

Here is additional info. I dug up...does this sound familiar and what accommodations were made for your child, if any, to address these issues?

She has difficulty with processing and reasoning; skills that are required for adequate comprehension of passages and information as well as, solving story or applied problems in mathematics. Hence, it is not a reading/math problem as much as it is a broader information processing weakness which interferes with understanding the main purpose (in any subject) and a difficulty anticipating what will happen next, inferential learning, and abstract part-to-whole thinking.

Any additional thoughts are appreciated! Thanks for the posts above, too, those were helpful!

Perceptual Reasoning tasks require a person to examine and think about things such as designs and pictures, and to solve problems without using words. These tasks require skills in solving nonverbal problems, sometimes using eye-hand coordination, and working quickly and efficiently with visual information.

Processing Speed impact skills requiring speed of mental problem-solving, attention, and eye-hand coordination. This skills may be important to development in reading, and ability to think quickly in general.

Often transferring information fromone format to another is challenging and painfully slow ie math word questions as they require strengths in both of the above skill sets.

Extra time to review instructions, comprehension checks w/instructors, assistance w/ outlining problem solving tactics and extra time to complete assignments are things our children have recieved to accomodate.

As for math there are some wonderful way to assist - using visuals, allowing use of multiplication tables or add/ subtract tables, offering access to examplers and partnering can all be helpful. Organizing and color coding units of study can be very effective for some kids too.

these two "terms" are associated with cognitive assessments, particularly the WISC-IV. Perceptual reasoning refers to processing and problem-solving using visual information. this index is derived from more than one subtest that measure different visual processing abilities. Processing speed, what I insist on terming "visual-motor processing speed" is the time it takes a person to process/understand visual information and provide a motor output that tells the Examiner that the Examinee has "processed" the visual information. Many factors, however, can interfere with performance on all of these subtests for either area. i hope this helps!

lmillwo - Welcome to this site!!!
This post that you responded to is pretty old - from 2007. But you sound like you are an expert in this!
I hope to see you posting in Venting and Support, and also in "Introduce Yourself" so we can get to know you!

Kathy......mom to:E (dd) - 23 BP NOS as a teen, no meds for almost 4 years now and doing great, married, has a 3 year old son and a 18 month old son.